Ban Dental Mercury in California

Dental amalgam (deceptively marketed as silver fillings) is a primitive and polluting cavity-filling material that contains 50% mercury, a known neurotoxin and reproductive toxin. Even though modern environmentally-friendly alternatives are available, dentists are still the second largest buyers of mercury in the United States where more mercury resides in human mouths than in all other products combined.

The mercury implanted into the teeth of unsuspecting patients ultimately ends up back in our environment: (1) in our water via dental clinic releases and household toilets; (2) in our air via cremation, sludge incineration, dental clinic emissions, and human respiration; and (3) in our land via landfills, burials, and fertilizer.

As a result, dental clinics are by far the greatest source of mercury in our wastewater and a major source of mercury in the fish we eat. The U.S. EPA estimates that alread one in six babies is at risk for developmental disorders due to mercury exposure in the womb.

California taxpayers are getting ripped off by mercury-using dentists. We pay to clean up after these reckless polluters while the California Dental Association lobbies to block laws that would require dentists to be environmentally responsible. Tell your city council that it is time to hold public hearings to address the dental mercury pollution problem in your community!

I am very disappointed that my city has failed to address dental mercury pollution. Dental amalgam (deceptively marketed as silver fillings) is a primitive and polluting cavity-filling material that contains 50% mercury, a known neurotoxin and reproductive toxin. Even though modern environmentally-friendly alternatives are available, dentists are still the second largest buyers of mercury in the United States, where more mercury resides in human mouths than in all other products combined.

The mercury implanted into the teeth of unsuspecting patients ultimately ends up back in our environment: (1) in our water via dental clinic releases and household toilets; (2) in our air via cremation, sludge incineration, dental clinic emissions, and human respiration; and (3) in our land via landfills, burials, and fertilizer.

As a result, dental clinics are by far the greatest source of mercury in our wastewater and a major source of mercury in the fish we eat. Taxpayers are left to pay the environmental clean-up expense, as well as the environmental health costs of dental mercury pollution. For instance, the U.S. EPA estimates that already one in six babies is at risk for developmental disorders due to mercury exposure in the womb.

To protect our community from this toxin, I request that the city council hold public hearings to address dental mercury pollution. Thank you for your prompt attention to this problem.